Louis townsblvd



' (No Model.)

' L. TOWNSEND. TELEPHONE G'ALL BELL SWITCH.

Patented, Feb; '5, 1884.

WITNESSES;

' 'ilnrrnn STATES P TENT @rrrcn.

. LOUIS TOVNSEND, OF EVANSVILLE, INDIANA.

TELEPHONE-CALL-BE LL SWITCH.

SPEUIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 293,118, dated February5, 1854.

Application filed November 1, 1883. (No model.)

To CLZZ whom it may concern.- Be it known that I, LoUIs TOWNSEND,acitizen of the United States, residing at Evansville, in the county ofVanderburg and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Telephone Gall-Bell Switches, of which the following isa specification.

'Myinvention relates to atelephone-call-bell switch and it consists,first, in the combination, with the telephonesupport, of apeculiartorsional-spring tube; secondly, in combining this with and embedding itin the walls of which the boxis composed; and, thirdly, in the peculiarconstruction of the contact-points, as

will be hereinafter more fully described.

Figure l is a sectionthrough the wall of the telephone-box, and alsothrough thetube containing the torsionspring. Fig. 2 is a View lookingin the direction of the arrowm in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a View looking inthe direction of the arrow y, and Fig. 4 are details of the contactspring.

In the drawings, A represents a part of the wall of the wooden box orcase.

B is the forked telephone-support, which is constructed as a lever,which passes through the wall of the box at right angles, and has contact-arms a I) upon the inside of the box. This lever is fulcrumed uponan axis that passes through the middle of the wall of the box, and theouter end of said lever is normally held up by a spring, as Iwill nowproceed to describe.

0 is a metal tnbehaving a flange, c, at one end. This tube is embeddedor inserted in a hole bored in the plane of the wall of the box, and isfirmly fastened to the box, so that it cannot turn. \Vithin this tube isanother tube, 0, which is smaller and shorter than C, but which projectsbeyond 0 at the end opposite the flange of the latter. This smaller andshorter tube 0' is firmly connected to the ends of one or more steeltorsion wires or springs, (Z d, the other ends ofwhich arefirmlyfastenedto a disk, e, corresponding to the flange c of tube 0, and which disk isfirmlyfastened to flange c by the same screws that secure the latter tothe box. Between the disk 6 and flange 0 is clamped a circuit-wire, f.Upon the end of tube 0, where it projects beyond 0, the telephone-leversupport B is rigidly attached, so that the tension of the torsion-springwithin serves to hold the outer or forked end of the telephone supportup, except when it is depressed. by the weight of the telephone. Whenthe telephone is off the support and the outer end of the lever is up,the arm a on the lower side of the inner end of the lever rests upon acontact-spring, a, and when the telephone is resting on the support andthe outer end of the lever is down the contact between arm a and itsspring a is broken, and the upper arm, 6, makes contact with the uppercontactspring, b. At the same time", also, a stud, c, breaks contactbetween 0 and 0 These movements being well understood for the purpose ofmaking the necessary circuit-connections, it is not necessary to furtherexplain them. The contact-springs a and I), however, I make in a specialformthat is to say, instead of a plain fiat spring I make it in thenature of three spring-tongues, 1 2 3, of which 1 and 3 are bent up soas to be at right angles to 2.. Now, when the arm a or b of thetelephone-support makes contact with these springs, said arm squeezesdown between the tongues 1 and 3 and rests also flat against 2. By thisconstruction it will be seen that the contact is not a mere touch orimpact, which frequently is imperfect by reason of dirt or oxidation,but is arubbing or sliding contact on both side pieces, 1 and 3, as wellas a touch against 2. V This, it will be seen, insures the best andsurest electrical contact that it ,is'possible to obtain.-

NVith respect to the arrangement of the two tubes 0 and G and thetorsion-wire, I would call attention particularly to this advantage,that the telephone-support has always a solid electrical connection withthe circuit-wire; and, further, that the devices are so arranged asneither to present an unsightly appearance upon the inside of the box.

For connecting the telephone-support B to the tube 0, a binding-screw,g, is employed. As the tension of the torsion-springs d may vary ordecrease so as to failto hold the telephone-support B- to its position,I provide means for increasing the tension of said springs by a newadjustment of the supportB on the tube. For this purpose the end of tube0 is nicked or slotted at h. Now, when the torsion-springs are to betightened, the screw 9 is loosened, and a screw-driver is then insertedon the exterior, nor do they take up any room 2 assume in the slot h andturned to tighten'the torsionspring, and when the proper tension isobtained the set-screw gis turned down to rigidly connect the support Bto the tube 0 again.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is 1.Atelephone-levcr support combined with the wall of the box or case, andfulcrumed upon a torsion-spring embedded in the wall of the box, as andfor the purpose described.

2. The combination, with the telephone-lever support, of the tube 0, theshorter inner tube, 0, and the torsion-spring connecting the two, thesaid lever-support being fastened to one tube and the outer tube beingfastened to the case, as described.

3. The combination of the tube 0, haying flange c, the shorter innertube, 0, projecting beyond 0, the torsion-wires (Z (Z, connected at oneend to one of these tubes and at the other 20 end to the other of saidtubes, and the telephone-lever support rigidly fixed to tube C,

as and for the purpose described.

4. A switch or contactspring consisting of three spring-tongues, 1 23,the two side tongues 25 of which project at right angles to the middleone, and upon the same side thereof, as described.

I 5. The combination of tube 0, tube 0, with slotted end, thetorsion-springs d, and the ad- 30 justable telephone-lever,substantially as described.

LOUIS TOWNSEND. Witnesses:

R. B. PARVIN, R. MOORE.

